Armored vehicles with pneumatic tires for primary use on roads conventionally include a vehicle body that is fabricated from armor plate so as to provide protection of the engine and occupant compartments from horizontally and downwardly directed projectiles such as bullets or shrapnel (e.g. grenade fragments), etc. Normally no armor plate protection is provided for the underbodies of armored road vehicles as most projectiles are directed either horizontally or downwardly. However, grenades exploding below a vehicle, land mines, or deflected bullets can result in upwardly directed projectiles that do damage to a vehicle underbody.